Nikola Dimitrov Никола Димитров | |
---|---|
Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration (North Macedonia) | |
In office 30 August 2020 –17 January 2022 | |
Prime Minister | Zoran Zaev |
Preceded by | Bujar Osmani |
Succeeded by | Bojan Maricik |
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 31 May 2017 –30 August 2020 | |
Prime Minister | Zoran Zaev Oliver Spasovski |
Preceded by | Nikola Poposki |
Succeeded by | Bujar Osmani |
2nd Macedonian Ambassador to the United States | |
In office 1 December 2002 –6 July 2006 | |
President | Boris Trajkovski Branko Crvenkovski |
Premier | Branko Crvenkovski Vlado Bučkovski |
Preceded by | Ljubica Acevska |
Succeeded by | Ljupčo Jordanovski |
Personal details | |
Born | Skopje,SR Macedonia,Yugoslavia (now North Macedonia) | 30 September 1972
Political party | Independent (1996–present) |
Other political affiliations | SDSM (2020–present) |
Alma mater | University of Skopje King's College,Cambridge |
Nikola Dimitrov (born 30 September 1972) is a Macedonian politician and diplomat,who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs for North Macedonia from 31 May 2017 to 30 August 2020. He also served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2000 and Macedonian ambassador to the United States and then the Netherlands. In 2014,he turned down an appointment as Macedonia's new ambassador to Russia.
Dimitrov,together with his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias,signed the Prespa agreement in 2018 in efforts of resolving the Macedonia naming dispute. As a result of this agreement,his country changed its name to North Macedonia.
Dimitrov started his governmental career in 1996 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an international human rights lawyer,and was promoted to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2000. In 2002 he was named the second Macedonian ambassador to the United States,succeeding Ljubica Acevska. This made him the youngest diplomat in Washington,D.C. at the time;this was part of a trend of generational transitions in Eastern European governments:"replac[ing] the old guard with young,Western-educated technocrats". [1]
In October 2009 he took up a new post as Macedonia's ambassador to the Netherlands. [2] After the end of his term there in March 2013,it had originally been planned that he would take up the ambassadorship to Germany,but instead that post went to Nikola Kolev. In February 2014,it was announced that Dimitrov had turned down an appointment as Macedonia's ambassador to Moscow. [3]
Dimitrov was Special Envoy in the talks for overcoming the name differences under the auspices of the United Nations in the period 2003-2008. From 2008 until 2011 he was a co-representative of the then Republic of Macedonia before the International Court of Justice in the case against Greece concerning the interpretation and implementation of the Interim Accord signed by both countries in 1995. [4]
Having been involved in the diplomatic efforts for the name dispute for years,in 2017 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the new government led by Zoran Zaev,leader of SDSM,which pledged to solve the disputes with neighboring countries and to improve the cooperation with them. As head of the Macedonian diplomacy,Dimitrov signed the Prespa agreement on 17 June 2018 in a high-level ceremony at the Greek border village of Psarades on Lake Prespa.
He is a former member of The Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group. [5] [6]
Nikola's father Dimitar Dimitrov [7] is a refugee of the Greek Civil War. [8] Nikola did his LL.B. at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje,and his LL.M at King's College,Cambridge in the United Kingdom,where he specialised in international law. He has been married twice and has three children,two of which are 16 and one 22.
The foreign relations of North Macedonia since its independence in 1991 have been characterized by the country's efforts to gain membership in international organizations such as NATO and the European Union and to gain international recognition under its previous constitutional name,overshadowed by a long-standing,dead-locked dispute with neighboring Greece. Greek objections to the country's name had led to it being admitted to the United Nations and several other international fora only under the provisional designation Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia until its official and erga omnes renaming to North Macedonia,a name under which it is now universally recognised.
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization –Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity,abbreviated as VMRO-DPMNE,is a conservative and the main centre-right to right-wing political party in North Macedonia.
The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia is a social democratic political party,and the main centre-left party in North Macedonia. The party is pro-European.
The Saints Cyril and Methodius University is a public research university in Skopje,North Macedonia. It is the oldest and largest public university in the country. It is named after the Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries Cyril and Methodius. As of 2018–19 school year,a total of 25,220 students are enrolled at the university. Furthermore,the teaching and research staff number 2,390 people;this is further supported by over 300 members in the university's institutions.
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The use of the country name "Macedonia" was disputed between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia between 1991 and 2019. The dispute was a source of instability in the Western Balkans for 25 years. It was resolved through negotiations between the two countries,mediated by the United Nations,resulting in the Prespa Agreement,which was signed on 17 June 2018. Pertinent to its background is an early 20th-century multifaceted dispute and armed conflict that formed part of the background to the Balkan Wars. The specific naming dispute,although an existing issue in Yugoslav–Greek relations since World War II,was reignited after the breakup of Yugoslavia and the newly-gained independence of the former Socialist Republic of Macedonia in 1991. Since then,it was an ongoing issue in bilateral and international relations until it was settled with the Prespa agreement in June 2018,the subsequent ratification by the Macedonian and Greek parliaments in late 2018 and early 2019 respectively,and the official renaming of Macedonia to North Macedonia in February 2019.
Zoran Jolevski is a Macedonian diplomat and the former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Macedonia. Prior to his appointment as Minister of Defense,he served as Macedonia's Ambassador to the United States of America. In November 2008,he was appointed chief negotiator to the Macedonia naming dispute,and in 2011 he was appointed Ambassador to the United Mexican States and as Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States. He served as Secretary General of the late Macedonian president Boris Trajkovski from 2000–2004. He holds a Ph.D. in International Economy from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje. He is married to Suzana Jolevska,and together they have two sons,Pero (1988) and Filip (1992).
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Gjorge Ivanov is a Macedonian politician,who served as the 4th President of (North) Macedonia from 2009 to 2019.
North Macedonia,officially the Republic of North Macedonia,is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south,Albania to the west,Bulgaria to the east,Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the north. It constitutes approximately the northern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia. Skopje,the capital and largest city,is home to a quarter of the country's population of 1.83 million. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians,a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25%,followed by Turks,Roma,Serbs,Bosniaks,Aromanians and a few other minorities.
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The Prespa Agreement,also known as the Treaty of Prespa,the Prespes deal or the Prespa accord,is an agreement reached in 2018 between Greece and the then-Republic of Macedonia,under the auspices of the United Nations,resolving a long-standing naming dispute between the two countries. Apart from resolving the terminological differences,the agreement also covers areas of cooperation between the two countries in order to establish a strategic partnership.
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